Serviceberry – Cedar-Quince Rust

Q: My serviceberry tree has cedar-quince rust on the fruit. What can I do?

A: The small fruit covered in fuzzy orange rods may be ugly but the disease won’t kill the tree. As you probably know, this disease travels to nearby Eastern redcedar (which is actually a species of juniper) tree for a year and then back to your tree during its life cycle. If you want to feel useful, pluck all of the infested fruit off the tree and dispose of if it. Rusts are very dependent on weather conditions so next year there may be none. Then you can congratulate yourself on your work this year!